Altadena’s and Pasadena’s First Celebrity

Little Round Top, Altadena, Jan. 29, 1898; inset photo of Owen at lower right (Photos – Altadena Historical Society‎)

Paul Ayers, a San Gabriel Mountains historian and preservationist, will recount the histories of Owen (Altadena’s and Pasadena’s first celebrity) and Jason Brown, sons of American slavery abolitionist and insurrectionist John Brown, and their participation in the murderous raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859.

After many years in hiding, Owen and his brother Jason found their way to Pasadena, where Ayers will recount their “rock-star-like reception, their lives of quiet and contemplation in the hills of West Altadena, the death of Owen and his burial on Little Roundtop, a hill above what today we know as the Meadows subdivision.”

Drawing on nearly 20 years of research, Ayers will present “Owen Brown—Altadena’s First Celebrity” on Monday July 22, 2019 at the Altadena Community Center.

> Free to Historical Society members; a donation is requested of nonmembers. Q&A will follow the presentation.

Altadena Historical Society July quarterly program
Date/Time
07/22/2019
7:00 pm
Location
Altadena Community Center

The Historical Society, founded in 1935 and Altadena’s oldest community group, is currently featuring an exhibit on “Theatre Americana” in its museum at the Community Center.  The society’s museum and archives are open to the public free of charge from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, and also from 2 to 4 p.m. on the first Saturday of each month.

Source: Altadena Historical Society